Leverage International: The House Job
by KaniacQueen
Summary: Eliot and the team a lot more about Savannah's past when an old friend comes by asking for help.
1. Chapter 1: Tangled Harness

Ch. 1 Tangle Harnesses

"Drive!" Eliot saw Savannah take a running start, and he complied and hit the gas. The truck shook roughly as Savannah landed in the back of the truck, chocolate curls swinging with the impact.

Parker's voice rang through the coms. "Everybody clear?" Four affirmations answered back. A few miles down the road, the back window of the cab opened and Savannah started pulling herself through.

Eliot growled, "You know, I hate when you do that."

"Yeah, well," Savannah grunted, pulling herself to the passenger side, "I hate waiting for you to pull over, so I can get in."

"Why don't you just get in the cab in the first place when we have to do getaways?"

She pulled her feet through the window and snapped it closed. "Because you always complained about me headbutting you when I jumped in."

"Buckle up." He glanced at her to make sure she was complying and noticed a darkening stain on her jeans. "Are you bleeding?!"

She gave herself a once over. "Oh. Yeah. Whoops."

He sucked his teeth. "You alright?"

She tugged at the fabric, doing her best at an examination. "Probably."

"Did you get blood anywhere in the truck?" His voice was pierced with irritation.

Her tone matched his. "I don't know."

"Dammit, Savannah," he mumbled.

She got defensive. "You know I'll clean it. I always do. Geez. Like you've never bled in this truck."

He rolled his eyes. He couldn't argue with her. "How do you keep doing that?"

She slapped her hands onto her thighs in frustration. "Because I don't register low pain levels! Remember, I was a lab experiment for a fake private school. You know this!"

He did. It had been almost two years since they took down the Academy and Savannah had become part of the team. Not too much had changed, though. She did expand the gym, added an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an under-water obstacle course, and moved her bedroom next to her expansions, but it was mostly for her benefit. No, not a lot had changed, and it bothered Eliot. He had thought he and Savannah had a connection; they did, but nothing was coming of it. He was almost sure, right after the Academy was finished, that they were dating in the way that Parker and Hardison dated before they actually went public about dating right before Nate and Sophie went on sabbatical. There had been moments where they'd be together, and he was sure there was about to be a kiss or something, but then she'd break away.

Eliot glanced over at her again in the silence. She was dozing off. It was a routine for her to nap right after they finished a job. They still shared a bed, and that made it more frustrating. He hated himself for being so frustrated. He hadn't felt this way since...For years, he had been able to just enjoy a woman's company for a night or so, and then move on. But Savannah made him feel connected to someone, like in the way he felt connected to the team, but deeper; like he could imagine retirement with Savannah. She was like Parker, however. She couldn't retire; she was too used to life outside the norm and too attached. He liked that about her. His life didn't get in the way; she was part of it.

The last couple of months, she had been more distant. She'd been spending most of her time in the gym, the pool, or Parker's jungle gym. She was spending a lot of time with Parker in general. It could be worse, of course. He could always just confront her, say something, but-

"They made it out!" Savannah shrieked. Eliot habitually reached out and took her arm as she caught her breath. Nightmares. They were still pretty frequent, after all this time. She got a peaceful night's sleep at least few times a month. They would never go away, unfortunately.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"_I'm_ sorry." He put his hand over hers, but after a few minutes, she pulled away. He looked at her, silently asking why, but she just stared out the window.

"Hardison, dinner's going to be ready in like ten minutes," Eliot said, checking the oven and laying a dish towel over his shoulder.

"Awesome, what are we having?" The screens around Hardison started fading to black. Eliot had a rule about non-emergency electronics being on during meals. Hardison and Parker always got distracted and left the table, and it got on Eliot's nerves.

"Chicken casserole."

Hardison clapped his hands together. "The one I like with the mushrooms?!"

"Yes, the one you like with the mushrooms. Have you seen the girls?"

Hardison though for a moment as he got up from behind his desk. "Not since breakfast."

"That was like nine hours ago. I'm going to go check on them, make sure they come down to eat since I guess they haven't eaten since this morning."

"I'll come with you." Hardison and Eliot headed upstairs. They weren't in the gym or the pool. Eliot knocked on Savannah's door. He didn't want to open since they still kept the fact that they shared a bed under wraps. She didn't answer. Hardison checked Parker's room and the roof. They weren't there either. Hardison snapped his fingers and pointed. "Parker's jungle gym." Eliot nodded and they headed that way.

Hardison opened the door to the room in which the ceiling was laced with repelling rigs and harnesses that all connected and disconnected through carabiners that the girls swung through like monkey bars. Shock and horror drenched the boys' faces. They had found the girls in Parker's jungle gym entwined, not by harnesses, but by their lips. Hardison let out a nauseated groan.

The sound broke the girls apart. "Hardison," Parker whispered miserably.

Savannah locked eyes with Eliot as the blood drained from her face. She croaked, "Oh."


	2. Chapter 2: Passive Aggresive

Hardison bolted. Parker was desperately yanking herself out her harness. "Hardison!" Parker called after him. "Hardison!" she repeated, finally freeing herself and running past Eliot after him.

Savannah had her pained eyes locked on Eliot. He felt like he was on fire, his eyes burned in particular. He couldn't tell if he was angry or hurt. He picked angry. It was easier, but it wasn't coming out right. In fact, all that came out was a barely audible, disconnected, "Dinner's ready." And he went to the kitchen.

Hardison and Parker were nowhere to be seen. They must've been off...who knows what; they didn't fight often. Still, Eliot flew to the oven and jerked the steaming casserole out, and began plating for no logical reason. Stomping footsteps told that Savannah was after him. "Eliot!" The sound of his name on her lips stung. "Eliot," she panted, catching up to him.

"What?" Eliot snapped dismissively.

"We need to talk about this," her tone was coated in shame.

"About what?" He slammed a plate down, then threw away the shattered pieces.

"Eliot!" She smacked her hand down on the counter.

He threw the spatula down. "What?! Why would this even concern me? It's not like we ever talked about...us being more than friends or anything. If you're going to talk to anybody about whatever guilt you're having, it should be Hardison who's actually in a relationship Parker."

"Really, you're going to play the passive-aggressive guy? That's not like you." Savannah crossed her arms. And with that dose of mocking, Eliot headed toward the front door, snatching his keys of the side table. "Where are you going?" she demanded. He answered her question with the slam of the front door.

Several hours later, he pushed through the front door at three in the morning. Everything was quiet. He went to the kitchen to clean up then disaster he'd left, but found the kitchen was spotless. He snuck up to Savannah's room. She was asleep. It looked like she'd had a rough few hours as well. She hadn't even taken her gloves or shoes off before she went to sleep, a habit she'd adopted to replace hair-burning and peroxide-spraying. He laid next to her, hoping not to disturb her, and feeling inexplicably guilty for leaving. When he woke up, her fingers were curled around his forearm. There must've been a nightmare, and the booze kept him from noticing when she woke up. Unfortunately, they didn't dissolve the guilt that Eliot still couldn't pinpoint. Savannah was the one who kissed Parker…

The morning was especially awkward. Parker and Hardison were nowhere to be seen again. Savannah left shortly after she woke up. Eliot stood aimlessly in the kitchen have no reason to cook, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like it. He tried working out, then he went to his apartment to watch hockey, and was just actually staring at the screen while trying to not think of what he saw in Parker's jungle gym the night before. Around nine that evening he went back, half hoping that Savannah would be there so they could talk. He got distracted when he found Hardison at his desk accompanied by several empty beer bottles.

"Sorry," Hardison grumbled. "I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it," Eliot grunted. He decided it was a good idea and pulled a six pack out of the fridge. "I'm sorry, man."

"Thanks. You know, I never thought I'd be mad to walk in on two girls kissing, you know?" Hardison was trying to laugh; it was that pained laugh when you can't quite cope with something.

"Yeah. So, I mean, what happened when Parker caught up with you last night?"

"I was so mad I went up to the roof, and you know I hate the roof." Eliot nodded. No matter how much time Hardison spent with Parker, he could still never willfully enjoy rooftops. "She tried to talk to me, but I just couldn't deal, you know? Finally, she said she was going to her place for a while, and to let her know when I was ready to talk."

"So you guys haven't split?"

"No. I mean, I'm upset, sure, but I still love her, you know. And I'm kind of actively in denial. But I think Parker deserves a chance to explain herself at the very least. I'm just not ready."

"Yeah. I think you're dealing with it pretty well though. And that's important."

"I'm sorry, too, man."

"For what?"

"You and Savannah."

"Oh," Eliot waved him off. "It's not like we were actually together."

"Well, I mean, it's like when Parker and I were in that period where we weren't actually together, but I was into her and she admitted she had feelings for pretzels…me. And I mean, even though we weren't official, it was understood that we had a thing and nobody got in the way of that. That's how I see you guys."

"Yeah, I did too."


	3. Chapter 3: Dani

Ch. 3 Dani

Eliot sat at the end of the bed running his fingers through his hair. It had been several days and Savannah hadn't said a word to him about the night in Parker's jungle gym. She'd barely said a word to him at all. She was poking through drawers, possibly looking for something. A cell phone started ringing. He checked his to find he had no call coming.

Savannah dug through a stray jacket pocket and pulled out the ringing cell phone. She picked it up and put it to her ear. "Dani?"

"When did you get a cell phone?" he blurted out with an offensive amount of irritation. But there was a bigger question that picked at him. Who the hell was Danny? Was the sucking on some other guy as well as Parker?

She waved him off. "Shush, I'm on the phone." She turned her back to him to continue the conversation. "Alright….Yeah...Okay...Right...Uh-huh...Okay...The Park? Got it. Be there in twenty."

She hung up the phone, grabbed a leather jacket and headed for the door. Eliot stood up to follow her. "Hey, where are you going?"

Savannah whipped around. She opened her mouth as to hurl some witty answer, but then she just seemed really conflicted. Finally, with a sigh, she answered, which seemed kind of difficult for her, "My friend Dani, we went to the Academy together, she needs help."

"Our kind of help?"

The conversation was making her uncomfortable. "I don't know. I'm meeting her to find out."

Eliot stepped forward to go for his keys. "I'll go with you."

"No!" She put her hands up defensively. She struggled to explain. "I...Dani and I haven't seen each other...in a long time….We've gone through a lot...and...I think the first time I see her in 16 years...It should be just me."

He wanted to push, but he couldn't think of a good argument. He was both relieved and unnerved to hear Dani described as "her". Savannah had made things so frustrating, fooling around with Parker while playing in the chemistry between them. His look of surrender gave Savannah permission to leave.

He waited about fifteen minutes then headed for his truck. He knew which park she was talking about. It was the park she went to when she was getting stir-crazy and it hadn't rained in a while. She had taken Eliot with her quite a bit. It always ended in those weird moments full of sexual tension and frustration, but at the same time, he always enjoyed them. Savannah was the most open and relaxed at the park or when it was raining. He always felt like these were the times he could really be with Savannah, he just never took that step. He was scared to push her. She was a strong woman, to be sure, but her psyche was fragile, and he wasn't sure she'd ever dealt with romance before...well, not with a man. Man, this girl was confusing.

He parked about a block away then pulled out binoculars and started watching. He was just in time. He watched Savannah walk up to a little redheaded girl. sitting on a merry-go-round. There was an overcast so the park was pretty empty, probably why they decided to meet in an open place. She was shorter that Savannah, and rounder. Though Savannah had gained some weight since she joined the team and was eating regularly; she was a healthier weight now. The girls hugged, tight and long. Savannah's hand perched on Dani's shoulder and she spoke with a concerned look on her face. Dani looked a little ashamed. He was only looking at their profiles, so he couldn't read their lips. After about a half-dozen exchanges, their expressions softened and became nostalgic smiles. After what was likely idle chatter or catching up, Savannah's expression became more business-like. She made a couple phone calls and then went back to the idle chatter with Dani. Eliot tried to read their interaction. They were close, but it wasn't clear if they were just best friends close or...Parker's jungle gym close.

The girls began leaving the park hand-in-hand. Still unclear. He'd seen plenty of girl (just) friends hold hands. He snuck through the back roads to get home long before the girls. He slipped into the gym and started working out vigorously to be sweaty by the time Savanah made it back so it looked like he was in the gym the whole time. It was about twenty minutes before he heard her voice in the hall.

"Eliot?" she called, and her head appeared in the gym doorway. She appeared refreshed, cheery. Dani appeared behind her.

"What is she doing here?" That was not a good question. The angry arch in Savannah's eyebrows told him so.

"She's staying here a while; she's our next client." There was a suspicious syrupiness to her voice.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"That's not your call."

Eliot pulled back a little. She didn't take that kind of stance with him. Feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed, eyebrows arched, head tilted as if to say, "I dare you to argue."

"You don't run this team," he spat.

"Hardison and Parker are on board," she shot back with a satisfied smirk. He opened his mouth to retort, but he had nothing. "And uh, Eliot?" Her arms relaxed. He hadn't even answered her when her fist crashed into his jaw. She'd caught him off-guard, and he hit the floor. Before he could even demand a reason, she roared, "Don't you _ever _follow me again!" Her voice returned to a dangerous calm. "Dani, this is Eliot Spencer. He appears to be a little off his game today. I'm sure he'll come through when he's needed."

"How did you know?" Eliot grunted. He stayed on the ground. If he tried to get up, she'd probably pop him again. It wasn't that he couldn't take it, but they'd gotten into some altercations that got physical and ended in repairs being needed the few months. It had gotten bad enough that Hardison and Parker started taking advantage of the repelling rigs in the ceilings. Parker would sneak up and clip carabiners to belt loops, then Hardison would hit a switch, and he and Savannah would go flying in opposite directions and end up hanging from ceiling tiles. The snags were easy to get out of, but it forced them to take a timeout from each other.

"I saw the damn truck when I walked up to the park. Do you think I'm stupid? Come on, Dani, let's get you settled in."

And she escorted Dani out, leaving Eliot humiliated on the floor, lying there out of no good reason to get up.


	4. Chapter 4 Here Come The Sun

Ch. 4 Here Comes the Sun

It was around dinner time, but no one was around so Eliot just ingested a six pack with a side of the leftover chicken casserole. He tried calling Hardison, since he hadn't seen him all day. Hardison just told him that he was safe, but occupied. Eliot asked about Parker as she hadn't returned to Headquarters since the night in the jungle gym. Ironically, she would only check with Hardison to say she was safe. Apparently, that was still the case.

Eliot began wandering around the building, trying to convince himself he was bored and not looking for where Savannah and Dani had disappeared off to, but that's exactly what was happening. He'd wandered about for almost an hour when he finally heard the chatter of female voices. He looked around and realized he was near Parker's bedroom. Of course. The door was ajar so he peered in.

Savannah and Dani were lounging on the bed looking like they were talking shop, but Savannah looked up at the door immediately, like she could feel Eliot there. She excused herself, "Hold that thought, Dani; I've got to handle some things." She got up, headed towards the door, met him in the hall, and firmly pulled the door closed behind her. "You don't need to be here," she said darkly.

Eliot responded weakly, "I wanted to make sure she was settling in okay." She rolled her eyes so hard, he could've sworn they rolled twice. "Are you..." He wasn't sure how to ask, but she knew.

She shook her head, looking uncomfortable. Clearing her throat, she clarified. "I can't leave her alone in a strange place. Not on the first night."

Well, that was hopeful. But still, he wanted her attention, "We need to talk about-"

The angry discontent in her returned. "We're not doing this now, Eliot." The way she spat his name stung.

"Then when?!" He tried to keep his voice at an aggressive whisper. It was wordlessly important that Dani not hear the conversation. She looked like she was about to answer, but then with a pained expression she opened the door to go back in the room and leave the exchange. "Savannah!" The gruff demand slipped out and startled Dani. Savannah glared at him as she hit a switch near the door, and he heard a low buzzing. She had turned on the laser grid over the door. If he crossed it, the best case scenario, a screeching alarm would sound, and she'd probably pummel him before she deactivated it. Worst case, it was a fatal booby trap. His shoulders slumped in defeat. As a gloat, she even left the door open as she rejoined Dani on the bed.

He stormed off, but less than an hour later, he was back. He carefully peeked in. The girls were sound asleep. He backed a few feet down the hallway and sat down against the wall, taking a strange comfort in hearing Savannah's breathing. A few minutes later, he heard a shrieking gasp, but he realized it wasn't Savannah. Of course, Dani had night terrors too. "Dani. Dani, I'm right here." Savannah was trying to calm her. "Oh, what was it? Right." Savannah started humming a familiar tune. It wasn't until she began to softly sing the lyrics that Eliot recognized The Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun". He heard Dani's breathing calm instantly. Dani had her own version of security. She had The Beatles while Savannah's was Eliot...or it was. Eliot shook his head and decided to head to his apartment; this place had never felt so empty. He was haunted by the question, after the scene with Parker, of Savannah's true relationship with Dani.

Eliot's phone rang, and he snapped it up without looking. His hope dissipated when Hardison's voice came through. "Meeting in the conference room. How far out are you?"

Eliot groaned and rubbed his brow. "I can be there in less than ten minutes."

"Great." Hardison's voice was unreadable.

"Hey, how are things with-" But Hardison had already hung up.

He had never had difficulty stepping over the threshold to headquarters before, but this time he had noticeable anxiety. He braced himself as he walked to the conference room. Dani and Savannah had their backs to him, unaware of his presence. Parker glanced up at him, her face tired and awash with guilt. Hardison walked in with the obligatory orange soda and handed Eliot a beer. They sat down, awkwardly silent for a moment.

"Alright, let's cut to the chase. Dani, what's the situation?"

Dani pulled at her sleeves nervously and took a deep breath. "So, obviously, not a lot of us at The Academy were really into the whole 'being sold as super soldiers for wars we wanted no part of' thing. But the treatments, you can't really just go back to normal civilian life once you've experienced them. We figured we could use what happened to us to, you know, help people. However, when you guys took down The Academy, a lot of students hadn't finished treatments, and while the treatments were shattering in every way, you ran at optimum capacity if you finished them. A few years before I completed the program, I ripped the research files. After The Academy was taken down, I decided to build my own lab based on the research, so that the students who felt compelled could finish the program. There was a break-in at Van House last week, and a bunch of equipment was stolen and several files were ripped. We poked around, and we think it was this group." She took Hardison's ThinkPad, tapped around, and images flooded the screen. "They call themselves Strife. They're basically like the younger, more juvenile version of The Academy. Instead of money, though, their goal is chaos, start meaningless wars and supply every side with the tools to cause as much destruction as possible. They'll want to develop and sell soldiers to opposing sides just to watch them tear each other apart."

Noises of disgust sounded around the table. Eliot noticed a distinct look of disappointment on Savannah's face as she listened to what was likely the second run of this story. She was likely uncomfortable, like the rest of them, with the idea of a lab like that existing again. Her eyes was swam with the tortures that plagued her nightmares.

Parker exhaled. "Wow. Alright. Well, at least we have some time before they can get soldiers out there."

Dani flinched. "That's the thing. I didn't duplicate the lab. I tweaked all the equipment, the entire program. You can create an adequate, while not entirely optimum, super soldier in about six months if they already have basic training, which it's likely whoever they're going to use it on does."

"We've worked with less," Hardison shrugged. There were noises of agreement.

Parker tapped her fingertips on the table. "Okay, well, I think step one is to take a look around your facility, see if we can find clues about how they broke in, get an idea what we're looking for. Hardison, can you-"

"Send crawlers across the web to get an idea where Strife could set up a duplicate lab?" Hardison and Parker seemed to be able to interact, with eye contact and no negative subtext. Maybe that's where he had disappeared to the day before, to work things out with Parker.

"Great, thanks. We're going to check on the Van House facilities. We'll use cam glasses so Hardison can get schematics for the crawlers."


	5. Chapter 5: Van House

Ch. 5 Van House

"Welcome to Van House." Dani opened the front door to a medium-sized victorian-style house to reveal it was teeming with life. Eliot, Savannah, Parker, and Dani filed in. All but Dani were wearing the discreet cam glasses. Hardison was back at headquarters cursing behind his laptop. He had no interest in coming along, but he was understandably short-tempered and finding usable information on Strife they didn't already know was not proving especially fruitful with the group being so unorganized. It was becoming more and more of a shock that these fools had busted into Van House.

Several people who were clearly administrators in the house like Dani rushed up to Savannah to welcome her. They quickly realized the visit was business-oriented and cleared away. "Follow me," Dani said.

Like soldiers in a march, Dani and Savannah walked in-step with each other. The habit had been ingrained into them with the assistance of malevolent chemicals and brought out with their proximity to a fellow commando. They followed Dani, looking around to give the cameras a good view, and Eliot started to notice something as they passed students and administrators who were students past. He'd seen a lot of these faces at The Academy.

"Wait a minute, was The Academy all-girls."

"Yeah," Dani and Savannah answered in unison.

He couldn't stop the question. "Why?"

"Women are more dangerous." It came in unison again.

"How so?" It was almost a demand and he may have been offended, especially being vastly outnumbered.

"Put a man in a uniform and give him a gun, you automatically see him as a threat. Hell, even a man in a black suit will make you wary," Dani explained.

"But put a woman in a gown and give her a champagne flute or even jeans and a tank top with backpack, and you see a friendly, a civilian, an innocent."

Eliot snorted...since he couldn't exactly argue. Compared the two, and the female counterpart is less threatening, more easily overlooked. "Makes sense," Parker shrugged.

"Shut up, Parker."

They had reached the basement. They descended the stairs which were hidden behind a door locked by a fingerprint scanner hidden in the knob. At the bottom of the stairs, lights finally hummed to life to reveal a lab. It wasn't a dank, poorly constructed basement lab. They could've been in a professional lab on a military base if they didn't know any better. Metal tables full of tools, monitors, computers, scanners, and a half-dozen of what Savannah had described as "bastardized dentist chairs". Her description was accurate. They were dentist chairs covered in straps, IV apparati, and monitors. Of course, there were scattered empty spots where there clearly used to be equipment. It looked like about half the lab had been ransacked.

Eliot glanced around at his companions. Dani was still stoic. Parker looked disgusted. Savannah stared glassy-eyed at the chairs. She was literally staring at the object of her nightmares reconstructed by a comrade. "Savannah?" he whispered. She flinched. "Are you...?"

"Copesetic," she nodded, finally looking away.

"Van?" Dani questioned, looking at Savannah with concern.

Savannah shook her head, looking up at Dani. "I'm stable, I promise."

"Van?" Eliot asked.

"Sa-_van_-nah," Savannah explained, emphasizing the middle syllable, "nickname."

Parker spoke thoughts aloud. "Van. Van House. Van House is named for you?"

Savannah shrugged and nodded. "She _is_ the reason it exists," Dani added.

Savannah coughed. "We should, um, see the break-in site."

"Right, this way." They followed Dani again as she explained. "There are six levels underneath the house. The topmost is the lab, the next is the medical bay, the one after that is the gym, two levels of classrooms and the bunker." She lead them to the west wall where there was a hole in the wall with a partial tunnel to the surface and mounds of rubble and shrapnel. "The opening to the surface was filled in the morning after the break in, for safety."

"Right."

In sync, Parker, Eliot, and Savannah sunk to kneeling positions and examined the damage. "Looks like a basic shrapnel bomb. Just some homemade kind of pipe bombs with nails and metal projectiles."

"Most of the place is soundproofed for obvious reasons, so we never heard them go off."

"I know you repaired the outside, but did you take pictures of the damage?" Savannah asked. Eliot was concerned. Savannah usually had this work-mode she got into where her whole being changed. Everything she did was calculated she performed like some sort of cold government agent. Eliot was used to that, but at that moment, it was different. Work Mode Savannah had taken most of her over, but he could see something else peeking through her oddly unfocused eyes: The Animal.

"Yeah, I have to grab them from my office, hang on." Dani jogged upstairs.

Parker started to climb up the tunnel to inspect for more clues. Eliot took the opportunity of semi-privacy to sidle over to Savannah and whisper assuringly, "They're not going to hurt you." She flinched hard like someone hit her and squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to escape something inside of her. He lightly touched her arm. "Hey." She sucked in a desperate breath and shook her head. Then Work Savannah was back, shaky, but back.

She brushed his hand away. "No," she whispered.

A few moments later, their privacy was gone when Dani jogged in holding a haphazard file folder. Savannah took it without making eye contact and started rifling through the pictures. "They were in a moving truck, a small one. There were at least seven of them." She looked back and forth between the pictures and the room. "They took off their shoes so their footprints in socks would be less discernable."

Parker called from the tunnel, "There's nothing traceable in here. Just more

bomb shrapnel. For amatuer hooligans they sure know how to cover the important stuff. There's not even wheel marks where they would've dragged equipment out."

"Because they used pulleys and ratchet straps and pulled the weight with the truck," Eliot pointed out.

"Brings the number of guys up to nine to help with the weight of this stuff," Savannah worked out.

Parker dropped in from the tunnel. "We should walk around, give Hardison a better idea of the schematics he needs to search for. Also, Dani, we're going to need equipment profiles."

"Right, they're in the file."

Savannah shifted on her feet. "Do we, um, just need to walk the lab or do we need any other levels."

"The lab should be enough since it's the only place they entered. There aren't any marks by the entrance to the other floors. If we need to we can come back, we can. Right?"

"Right," Dani answered.

"Right," Savannah repeated. She sounded the opposite of thrilled, but no one said anything.


	6. Chapter 6: Nails

Ch. 6 Nails

When they got sufficient footage for Hardison, who had been strangely quiet save for occasional mutterings of "useless" and "unhelpful" directed at his findings, not the team, it seemed like a good time to leave.

Savannah and Dani snuck off to the side to have a private conversation while Parker and Eliot pretended they couldn't hear. "Um, there's a total administration SNAFU going on. Leave this place five minutes and everything goes to hell in a handbasket, right?" Dani sounded completely unconvincing.

The tense tone in her voice was matched Savannah's, "Fine."

The tone changed to a kind of plead. "Van?"

"I said fine."

"Van?!"

"This place is just a really crappy reminder, okay?"

"It's not-"

"We should go. Hardison doesn't like to be left alone at the office too long."

Dani sighed in defeat as Savannah walked away.

Eliot and Savannah shared the bed like usual. He knew she was in for an especially rough night, and while she wouldn't tell him with the tension still tangible between them, she still needed him around. There had been plenty of nights she hadn't been too happy with him, but still reached out for him in the middle of the night with ghosts in her eyes.

That night Savannah couldn't sleep more than twenty or thirty minutes before she would snap up gasping, moaning, or even screaming. She was exhausted, so she ended up going back to sleep about a half dozen times. She would always reach for his arm when she woke up, but it was so treacherous, she kept her hold, increasing her grip through the night. As usual, Eliot would start falling asleep about two hours after they went to bed.

He woke up to the sound of a phone ringing, Savannah's cell phone. Eyes half open, he felt Savannah shift, answering the phone without getting off the bed or even sitting up. "Hello," she croaked. "Yeah, same here...Yeah...Yeah...I guess...See you later."

Eliot was pretty sure it was Dani. It sounded like she wanted to resolve the tension between her and Savannah, and apparently, she was coming over later that day. She began to sit up, and that's when he registered pain in his arm.

He looked down to see Savannah gripping him so hard her knuckles were white. Her nails were embedded in his skin. He wasn't upset; he understood. He made a small noise of concern as he sat up. She immediately noticed the damaging position of her hand.

"Sorry," she groaned.

"It's fine." He meant it. While it hurt, she hadn't injured him, save for the scratches.

Her hand had cramped up, so they both had to work her hand off him. Her hand was clearly in pain. He opened his mouth to tell her to treat it, but she already nodded. "I'll tape it up. It'll be fine in a day or two."

That was Savannah's thing. Unless it was bleeding, she would just wrap it in athletic tape. Bleeding injuries got doused with peroxide and bandaged with gauze and adhesive. She was right, though. Usually most of her injuries were recovered in less than a week. Must've been The Academy Cocktail.

Eliot had questions that kept piling up, but it seemed there was never a good time. He hoped Savannah could get a workout or a swim in before Dani showed up, but to dismay, Dani appeared to joining them back to headquarters even with the rising tension between her and Savannah.

Eliot made lunch when they got back. Cooking was becoming a bigger and bigger solace these days. Lunch was quiet. Hardison and Parker ate quickly and disappeared. Savannah and Dani seemed to be in similar moods as they picked at the chicken pot pie. Eliot stepped away from the table and started cleaning the kitchen. As he'd hoped, a whispered conversation started between them. He strained to hear. He missed the first few minutes, but finally, he was able tune in.

"You're mad me?" That was Dani's voice.

"I never said that."

"Yeah, you can be pretty nonverbal."

Savannah just scoffed.

"This is about the lab."

"Not only did you rebuild it, you made it work faster!" Savannah hissed.

"It isn't the same, and you know it!"

"The night terrors haven't changed, have they? Speed up the process? Sure! Get rid of the crippling side-effects? No, not important! Why would it be?!" Savannah was no longer whispering. Eliot winced for Dani's sake. Savannah had a taste for sarcasm, but she wasn't often so scathing.

Dani let a silence set in for a few moments while Eliot pretended he wasn't there. "I think I'm going to sleep at Van House tonight."

"Fine," Savannah snapped. She got up, went to the sink and started vigorously scrubbing her dish.

Eliot stepped over and took her hand. He tried to be as gentle and passive as possible as he reached for the dish. "Hey," he told her, "I'll take care of it." She stopped scrubbing and just stood there a moment before walking away and going upstairs, either to the gym, pool, or roof Eliot guessed.


	7. Chapter 7: Ex

Ch. 7 Ex

Eliot had been in some awkward situations before, but being alone with Dani was up there. It felt like hours of silence passed between him and Dani while Eliot washed dishes and willed Dani to disappear and Dani seemed too uncomfortable to move.

"You, uh, wouldn't happen to have any beer around here, would you?" Dani finally said.

Eliot's southern instincts took over. He leaned over to the fridge, grabbed two cold beers and handed one to her. After all, he had no tangible reason to hate Dani. It was all jealousy. She seemed like a nice girl, and she hadn't really done anything to him.

"This is good beer," she commented politely. He nodded. He was done with the dishes, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. It'd be rude to leave someone like that in an unfamiliar place, she'd only been there once, and Savannah could be gone for hours. He looked around, trying to find a place for his eyes to focus on that wasn't in her direction. He settled on staring at him beer. Beer drinking was supposed to be an activity of camaraderie, but here it was just a desperate diversion from the other person instead of a bonding experience.

"You wanna know if Savannah and I were ever a thing."

He choked and nearly dropped his beer. The question seemed to come out of the blue. However, he couldn't deny, the question had haunted him since he's heard her name. "Uh, yeah," he answered cautiously as he could.

Dani pursed her lips and slowly took a sip of her beer. "Yeah," she sighed.

Eliot felt his skin tighten and his jaw clenched like a vice. His blood seemed hot and cold at the same time, rushing while all else was at a stand still. He tried to keep his outer appearance steady. He knew. He knew. But he didn't want to hear it. And not from her. Especially with that vague look of pity on her face. He couldn't leave it there. "So, uh, what-"

"Happened?" Her expression changed drastically. He guessed she was reliving snippets of her romance. "She left The Academy. We were fresh thirteen year olds when we...got together. We kept things secret, of course, at least from the staff. We'd already picked up on the fact that they used everything we did against us in some way. So we'd been together and year and a few months when Savannah started to get distant. Looking back, I get it, she was trying to protect me just like she was trying to protect Sasha. A couple months later, she was gone. I'd given up on her by then. She wasn't talking to anyone by the time she left. Luckily, I ganked the research files before she did. They were getting to me in the own special way, more so once Savannah shut me out."

He cringed inwardly. Based on the story, Dani and Savannah lacked closure. He knew that feeling well. It was even harder to dislike Dani. With all she'd gone through with The Academy, then Savannah, and who knew what her family life was like. And then she was nice, and open, and honest even after all that. It was something he could really appreciate those things in his line of work. Still, jealousy made him keep his distance.

It was both awkward and soothing to sit in front of the big screen with Dani on the couch and Eliot in the recliner to watch baseball. He had warmed up to the sport after playing it.

Eliot woke up to the sound of clinking glass. He opened his eyes to find he'd dozed off in the recliner. Dani was gone. The clinking sound came from Hardison putting down the beer he was drinking next to a few other empty bottles he'd apparently already polished off at his desk as he glared at his flock of screens.

Eliot got up and started towards his desk. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Just frustrated that I can't find where Strife would've put this lab." Hardison's hand clenched tighter over the mouse.

"Where is everybody?"

"Parker's at her apartment. I think the other two were talking about hanging out with a group at Van House."

Eliot ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't know I was out that long. They must've made up. They had a fight earlier this morning."

"Trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"I think we're all having trouble."

"How're you and Parker?"

Hardison finally looked up from his computer. "Better. But still need some extra space between."

"Good." Eliot absent-mindedly grabbed a remaining beer from the six-pack on Hardison's desk and cracked it open.

"Like I said, I'll pay-"

"Don't worry about it, man. It's been a rough few days, you deserve 'em."

"Thanks."

Eliot dragged a dining chair over to the desk. "How are you dealing with it...so well...you know what I mean?"

Hardison looked at his lap for a few moments, powered down his computer systems, and folded his arms over the desk. "Because I know she didn't do this to hurt me. Like it hurts more that she felt she couldn't talk to me about it. Like I know a lot of people would want to call it cheating and leave, but Parker's different, and we knew this wasn't going to be normal from the beginning. I just didn't expect to take _this_ turn, you know."

"So...you guys talked?"

Hardison nodded. "Yeah, a few times. I mean, it's not really one of those one-talk deals, kinda like when we first got together. I mean, when it first happened, I didn't wanna talk. I think you and Savannah are dealing with that right now. And I had this thought, 'Who knows Parker the best?' And I thought Archie, but I couldn't bring myself to bring any level of this up to him. Plus, Parker was probably with him anyway. Then I thought Nate, but Nate sucks at relationships. So I called Sophie."

"What'd she say?"

"Stuff I kinda already knew, you know. Parker never went through an experimentation phase like most women do, and that's probably something she needs...or needed. It-it made sense."

"So everything's okay?"

"I love her, still. And she loves me. She's growing and I have to let her do that and trust that now she's going to tell me more what she's feeling."

"Right. That's good, man. I'm glad." He clapped Hardison on the shoulder. "You know, I wish I had someone like that for Savannah, but between all of us, I'm the one that knows her best."

Hardison shrugged. "What about that girl, Dani? They seem pretty close?"

Eliot sucked air through his teeth and groaned. "I don't think you should ask someone's ex how to woo them."

Hardison reeled back with wide eyes. "Oh really? So, I mean...does Savannah just play for the other team?"

"You know, I don't really know. I mean, I always feel something between Savannah and me."

"Yeah, I see it."

"Yeah. I just don't know. And she's not ready to talk. And I don't think I am, either. Hey, I'm sorry that you're doing most of the work on this case right now. I know you got a lot going on."

"Man, I know you'll jump in with fists flying as soon as we get a location. And I'm not on my own, Parker's been helping out."

"Good. I'm glad at least you guys can still work together with all this going on. Why don't you take a break, man? You're not gonna get anything done this tired."

"Right."

Hardison got out from behind his desk and clapped Eliot on the shoulder before lumbering upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8: Drunk Dial

Ch. 8 Drunk Dial

Out of habit that evening, Eliot checked Savannah's room to see if she was there and was surprised to find she was. She had a stack of notes across her lap. They were probably her own notes on how to figure out the case. While her security was high-tech, she preferred pen and paper when it came to figuring things out. Then she burned them after. Whatever the notes were, she put them in her dresser when she walked in. It didn't matter. He had bigger concerns.

"Hey." She seemed content to see him.

"Hey." He slipped in and shut the door. "You doin' better?"

"Yeah. Dani and I talked, kind of, and I hung out with a group from Van House. It's nice to see a lot of them again, safe."

"I'm sure it is." Eliot stayed close to the door, still feeling uncomfortably tense with her. "I'm glad you have...people to talk to."

"Yeah." She stopped looking at him.

"Why didn't you tell me about Dani? That you were friends? That you were together?"

Savannah looked grossly offended and glared at him, jaw hanging. Her eyes narrowed and she spat, "Why didn't you tell me about Aimee?"

Eliot felt the question like a verbal sucker-punch. "Wha-Who told you about Aimee?!"

Savannah crossed her arms in contempt. "Sophie. She also told me you were a giant indiscriminate, shallow playboy and that I should avoid a romantic relationship with you because it probably wouldn't last."

Eliot couldn't hold back. It was like Aimee's name had lit a fuse. He roared, "You know I'm not like that. Not anymore. I haven't been with another woman since I met you! How can you..." He sputtered in frustration.

Savannah pressed her palms to her temples, and shook her head like she was trying to shake away Eliot's anger. "I'm staying at Van House for a couple of days," she snapped, her voice pitched high with emotion. She grabbed her duffel bag and pushed past Eliot through.

"Good. Fine. Have fun. Have a great time," he spat, waving her off.

The front door slammed as Eliot trudged downstairs to get much-needed beer. "So talking didn't go well?" Hardison quipped from his desk.

"Not now, Hardison," Eliot grumbled, taking a six pack out of the fridge and nearly slamming it on the counter. Hardison opened his mouth and started to say something, but Eliot cut him off. "I said not now."

Hardison put his hands up and started to leave. "Alright, fine. I'll work upstairs."

"Get some sleep," Eliot said flatly.

Two...or three...six packs later at some unforgivable hour, Eliot rotated a phone in his hand. With resolution, he dialed and put the phone up to his ear.

The was a grunt on the other end followed by, "Eliot?"

"Your wife ruins everything."

"What?"

"She told Savannah about Aimee."

"Eliot, are you drunk?"

"I wasn't ready for her to know about Aimee."

"It's interesting to be on the other side of one of these calls." Nate sighed. "Alright, tell me what happened. "

"Sophie told Savannah about Aimee."

"I got that. What else? I don't think Aimee warrants this much alcohol after all this time. That was weird to say."

"Funny." Eliot chuckled weakly and then groaned. "Savannah kissed Parker."

"Right. I heard about that. Sorry, I don't know what time it is, but it take awhile to remember...everything when the sun's not up yet. Look, I get that, and you should remember-"

"That's not all. Our new client is Savannah's ex-girlfriend."

"Oh. Ouch."

"And Savannah and I can't seem to talk about any of it. It always ends in someone walking away angry and it feels like it keeps getting worse."

"Any chance there's a way you can sober up so you'll actually comprehend the advice part of the conversation?"

"I'm not a blackout drunk, Nate." He exhaled sadly. "Just tell me what to do."

"Eliot, this is really Sophie's territory."

"I'm mad at Sophie."

"Right. Right." There was a garbled groan as Nate was presumably rubbing his face in thought. "Look, Eliot, I know there's this thing between you and Savannah. You have to realize, a lot of people, more commonly women, experiment with their sexuality. Sexuality is sometimes seen as fluid. I mean, think about it. Things work out between you and Savannah, you know it's solid, real. Things like this can sometimes strengthen a relationship. Sometimes people need to do this to help figure out the emotions they have. It's like when you sleep around because you have trust issues and-"

"Hey! I haven't-"

"I know, but you get what I'm saying."

"Maybe."

"You and Savannah are arguing, right? She didn't just blow you off?"

"Yeah, we're trying to talk, but it just isn't happening."

"She's not blowing you off, so she's guilty. She had no intention to hurt you, just like Parker didn't mean to hurt Hardison." Eliot couldn't respond. It made sense. "You just need to give it time. And when you finally do get to talk, you can't make it confrontational. She's already feeling guilty; you can't make her feel attacked."

"Hm."

"You disagree?"

"No. No, I don't. It's just a lot to deal with, you know?"

"I know."

"I guess I'll let you get back to bed."

"Alright. If you can, call me in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah."


	9. Chapter 9: Turquoise

Ch. 9 Turquoise

Savannah stayed at Van House for a few days. In fact, Savannah stayed at Van House for several days. She had apparently been in contact with Parker who assured Elot she was safe. Unsurprisingly, it didn't help. He wanted to talk to her, resolve everything. Even with Savannah absent from the office, tensions still ran high. Hardison was nigh murderous with frustration that he wasn't finding any possible locations for Strife. Parker was annoyed with Eliot's subtle but constant pestering about Savannah. Hardison and Parker while still together and relatively steady, there were still some kinks.

At first, it was almost relaxed him at first, to have some time away from Savannah after talking to Nate. Time would help, time apart. She wasn't blowing him off; she was working things through.

It stopped being relaxing, though. After a few days, it began to...scare him. Was she blowing him off now? She stormed out on him like he was the one who kissed someone else while they were...connecting. So...nothing was official. But everyone saw it. Everyone knew they were...pre-dating. Eliot decided to do exactly what he should've done. He would take initiative, go down to Van House, take Savannah out and...talk. When did talking become a priority? Oh...right.

It was early afternoon when Eliot knocked on the door of Van House. His nerves vaguely resembled those that he had picking up Aimee for their first date. He massaged his forehead, trying to rub the image away. Aimee couldn't occupy a sliver of his mind right now.

A tiny blonde who looked about 17 or 18 opened the door. "Yes?"

"I'm uh, looking for Savannah. Savannah Pierce? Uh, Van?"

The girl's eyes narrowed momentarily. "The admins went on a retreat in the city. She was with them."

Eliot bit his lip in irritation. "Okay, thanks."

"Can I take a message, Mr. Spencer?"

"How did you-No. Thank you."

Well, that didn't help. At all. And then Eliot got an idea. A horrible idea that he hated himself for, but an idea. It was a quarter to one that night when Eliot snuck downstairs and tip-toed over to Hardison's desk. Now he definitely couldn't hack, but he picked up a few things. He moved the mouse and the screens glowed to life. He looked around and clicked until...there it was: map of Portland with four glowing dots. Three of them flashed at the address of headquarters, and the fourth was a few blocks away in the more active part of the city.

Eliot typed the address into Google. It was a nightclub. First Parker and now she runs off in the middle of a job to go gallivanting at a nightclub? Okay, the job was at a standstill until Hardison got locations, but...Eliot grabbed his truck keys and marched out the door.

The club was a relatively new joint with one of the dance floors on a patio. Eliot pulled up and parked the truck next to that particular feature and scanned the crowd. Beyond her movements, which he knew well from sparring for the last several months, Savannah was unrecognizable. Pastel blue shorts that just covered the essentials and a white halter top that was just as skimpy dressed her swaying body underneath the flashing lights.

The scene unfolded before him like he was watching instead of participating. He flung himself out of the truck, slammed the door, darted into the crowd, snatched Savannah up by the arm and dragged her to the curb.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He growled.

"I could ask you the same question!" She snapped.

He ignored her and started raving. "You're out here in your freaking underwear, not paying a bit of attention, I can smell the booze on you. You're a freaking neon target. Do you know how dangerous this is?"

She crossed her arms and glared. "You're seriously about to lecture me about dangerous?"

He went off on another tangent as he noticed the front quarter of her hair was turquoise. "And what the hell is this? How are you supposed to work like that? You're supposed to blend."

She rolled her eyes. "It washes out, grandpa."

"You haven't been to the office in over a week. We're in the middle of a case. You can't just disappear like this."

"I've been checking in with Parker. We can't even move forward on the case until Hardison gets a location. I am spending time with friends I haven't seen in years. What is your problem, really?"

"We need to talk about what happened with you and Parker...and you and Dani..." Eliot finally admitted the real issue.

"And you and Aimee?" She pressed cautiously.

He exhaled sharply. "Yes. Let's go."

She looked sympathetic for a moment then shook her head. "No. I'm going to continue being with friends I don't work with all the time. Hardison will call me when he has something and we can move forward."

"Why didn't I know you had a cell phone until Dani called?" The negative answer sent Eliot back into his jealous spiral.

"You don't pay attention," she said dryly.

"Very funny. We share a room. You'd have to work pretty hard to hide something like that from me. Why?"

"I hide a lot from you," she evaded.

"That's becoming becoming pretty damn clear!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me like that!"

"Get in the damn truck, Savannah!"

"Fuck off before I lay you out in the middle of the street."

"Try it!"

He took her arm again, and to his surprise, she leaned into him and breathed into his ear, "Think about how this looks to the crowd, Spencer."

"You wouldn't."

"No." She planted her foot on his thigh. Her voice raised to a yell as she kicked him against the wheel well of his own truck. "I'll come back when I damn well please!"

The crowd murmured, and to disperse the scene, Eliot relented and got in the truck. As he started the truck, he heard Savannah call out to him. He rolled down the window, hopeful she'd had a change of heart. Her face didn't reflect one, however. "How did you find me?"

And with that, Eliot stepped on the gas.


	10. Chapter 10: GPS

**Ch. 10 GPS**

Eliot woke up from a nap in the recliner to the sound of the front door being thrown open. The unmistakable sound of Savannah growling and storming upstairs lured him out of the chair. Hardison was at his computer like usual and stared at the stairs with concern. The sound even brought Parker into the room, eyebrow raised.

Savannah ran back down stairs with a duffel bag and an arm load of shoes. She ceremoniously flung the shoes onto Hardison's desk. Before he could start yelling, she barked, "Take the GPS out of my shoes!"

Eliot felt his eyes go wide with panic. Hardison stuttered as he dared to glance over at him. "I-I-I don't...um..."

"I said TAKE THE GPS OUT OF MY SHOES!" She went over the desk and grabbed for Hardison's throat.

Only Parker's quick thinking saved him. She wrapped her arms around Savannah and hauled her out of arm's reach of Hardison or his desk. "No, you can't do that to him. He breaks. He's not Eliot."

For some reason, Parker let Savannah go and Savannah just shook it off. "I need-"

"I know. It'll be taken care of," Parker assured her, giving Hardison a look that told him she wasn't just saying that.

Savannah took a shaky breath. "Okay. Thanks." She grabbed the duffel bag and made towards the front door, still open. "Call me when we can go forward with the job."

"Where are you going?" Eliot had said it quietly, hadn't even meant to say it at all.

Savannah whirled around and glared at him, her eyes burning him with anger and a touch of hurt. She spoke with terrifying calmness. "Where do you think?"

And she left before he could respond.

"Hardison! Hardison! Hardison!" Dani burst through the door yelling like a siren.

As per usual, Hardison was half-asleep at his desk. Dani's hollering woke up both Hardison and...everyone else. Eliot and Parker jogged downstairs, laughably calm. Eliot reached the bottom of the stairs as Savannah trudged through the door in the wake of Dani looking like she'd gotten no sleep.

"What? What?! What?!" Hardison called back indignantly, somehow more awake than anyone after weeks of being sleep-deprived and stressed. Dani all-but leap-frogged over the desk and took over the keyboard. "Girl, whatchu doin'?" Hardison was very obviously offended at the entire situation.

"I figured out why you're not finding the lab. And I can fix it."

Hardison's attitude changed entirely. "Well damn, girl, do your thing."

They watched the light from the screen flash across Dani's face. The computer hummed faster. Hardison took it from Dani as it began to slow back down again. He said in almost disbelief, "We found it." The words sunk in and he jumped up and pumped his fist. "Yeah, we finally found this damn hell hole."

Dani hitched a duffel bag, apparently a trademark of Academy victims, higher on her shoulders. "I'll call the house, get a unit together."

"No." It came from Savannah, who was sharp as a tack. Dani started to argue and Savannah closed the distance between them as they failed to have private altercation.

"This is why they chose to go through the rest of the treatment."

"We're not getting these girls involved in another war they didn't ask to be in.."

"They're trained for this!"

"I said no."

"They're already involved, Van."

"This is my team. You play by my rules or you get out."

Eliot went forward to break them up as Savannah moved more aggressively towards Dani, but Parker pulled him back. "Let her go. She's under control."

"Maybe I will."

"You called me for help. You know you can't handle this with your powder puff brigade."

"That was uncalled for."

"You want that blood on your hands too?"

Dani stepped back like the words had a physical impact. "Van," she breathed, injured.

Savannah's chest was rising and falling rapidly even as she spoke relatively evenly. "We do our job as we are or you step out."

"Fine."

"Everybody just get some damn rest. We'll get a concrete plan together and tear these fucks down within a week. We're almost out of time before they have their own army of human molotov cocktails."

Hardison and Eliot looked at Parker with expressions of concern. She was as stone-faced as Savannah and just nodded.


	11. Chapter 11: Echoes

Ch. 11 Echoes

Eliot felt Savannah get out of bed after only an hour and a half of failing to sleep that night. He knew she was just going to hit the gym and the pool. He was going to avoid her until she blew off some more steam; she had a very short fuse lately.

He waited about twenty minutes and went down to the kitchen to bake. Baking was distracting, gave him a sense of control he rarely felt anymore. Working out did the same, but that wasn't an option right now. Around seven in the morning, after enough baked goods to feed Portland, Hardison came down and powered up his computer as Eliot climbed into the recliner to get the rest Savannah talked about. A few minutes later he heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Hardison?" To his surprise, it was Savannah's voice. He kept his eyes closed, controlled his breathing, and listened, pretending to be asleep.

"What's up, girl? Got a plan already?"

"No. Well, kind of, I still have to talk to Parker and Dani about it, but that's not why I wanted to talk to you."

Eliot heard the chair roll away from the desk. "Okay, speak your mind."

"I owe you an apology."

"For the GPS thing the other day? Girl, please, you had a right to be mad, I mean-"

"It's not that."

"Oh."

"I crossed a line with Parker. It wasn't far to you to-"

"Aw, man, you don't-"

There were several minutes of the two of them studdering over each other. It was actually really funny. Finally, the two of them got out a sentence simultaneously.

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

"What?"

"What happened really helped me and Parker."

"I'm still at 'what'."

"Look...here, sit down." Hardison lowered his voice. There was the sound of dining chairs being pulled out. "Intimacy is really hard for Parker. She and I are really close, but there are some things I just can't help her with. Being touched is...was scary for Parker. What you two did, it was a stepping stone so that we could take some new steps in our relationship. I..."

"Um. Good."

"So...what's up with you and Eliot?"

"How about to thank me, you don't ask me that question?"

"Alright, just keep in mind. This affects more than you and Eliot."

"I know. I'll fix it. I'm just not going to talk about it."

Later that afternoon, Dani was over. Like she belonged there, she went straight to the gym. Eliot couldn't map out his exact train of thought, but he decided it was time to workout. Savannah was practically addicted, so he couldn't keep waiting to be alone.

He walked in on Dani and Savannah sparring. He couldn't help but feel a strange twinge of envy as he watched the two slam each other around without restraint. The girls politely ignored him as he went to the weight machines, covertly glancing over on occasion.

"Alright, time out. I'm going to get some water," Dani said after about forty-five minutes.

"Cool," Savannah said, sitting down for a break.

Eliot waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade before he spoke. "You're more restrained with her than you are with me."

"She's been conditioned to handle it."

"So have I."

"It's not the same."

"Close enough."

"Just stop it, Eliot. This isn't something you want to get into."

"Yes, it is. You're the one pushing me away." And as he stormed out of the gym, they both knew he wasn't talking about sparring.

"Eliot!"

But he ignored the plead.

The plan was formulated that afternoon. Well, it was the usual fluid, mostly formulated plan. Parker and Hardison would do the classic inspector set up to get in the door then let the others into the lab through the basement window. Then probably blow stuff up. Because Savannah made it clear she wanted this over with. This was the equivalent to The Academy to her. There would be no sneaking around, long persuasion, or slow and steady cons. Get in, blow stuff up, get out.

They scattered around the underground lab, placing detonators to be set off as soon as they were clear. The junior terrorists hadn't finished the lab and only worked on it at night to keep up appearances, so when Hardison excused himself from the bathroom and Parker needed to get something from the van, they weren't questioned. These kids were geniuses when it came to chaos, but stupid when it came to folks in uniform it seemed. And they were just kids. Barely college age. Hardison and Parker were seen as adults who wouldn't find college kids dangerous, so the kids let them through. It was amazing how much they were getting by on perception.

On the coms, they whispered to each other which areas of the labs they covered. Suddenly, a curse from Savannah was heard through the coms.

"What's going on?" four voices called in unison.

The next words that were heard would haunt Eliot for the rest of his life.

"I tripped...and dropped them."

Everyone knew what that meant. Any sort of jarring rendered the detonators unstable; they could blow at any second. A deafening silence followed. You could hear no one moving.

And there was the explosion of thirty or so detonators.


	12. Chapter 12: Stasis

Ch. 12 Stasis

"Savannah!"

"Van!"

Eliot started running. He heard Dani's labored breathing as well as she pulled out her cell phone and called for a medical van from Van House.

"Van, if you can hear me, I need you to say something."

The wet breathing was weak and distant and panicked. "Dani, I can't move. Why can't I move?"

"Oh thank God. Van, your body's being forced into a stasis so that the Academy juice can start to heal you. It shuts down as many body functions as it can so that your body can focus on healing. We'll be right there."

Eliot pleaded as he ran. "Hardison, Parker, get out. They had to have heard the explosion. When we're clear, detonate the rest."

Parker began to argue, "We can't leave you behind. How're you going to-"

"We'll make it. GET OUT!" Dani begged.

"There's so much blood," Savannah choked.

"You're going to be fine, Van."

It was hard to believe when Dani and Eliot skidded to a halt at the site of the explosion. Savannah was prone in a pool of her own blood. Her head was moving like she was trying to get up but nothing was moving. Savannah's right side from chest to hip was hamburger. There was a small pile of debris underneath and around her. The blast was concentrated.

"Oh shit," Dani groaned. Eliot looked at her, trying to ask how bad it was without words. Sirens were heard outside.

"I..." Rarely did Eliot not know what to do.

Dani just nodded. "Can you get through the window carrying her?"

"Is it safe to pick her up?"

"Yeah, the bleeding's slowing, so the treatments, while incomplete, are working. You're gonna make it, Van."

Eliot finally felt reassured. The Academy was good for something. "If you go through ahead of me and help me get her through the window..."

"Then we get her to the med-van."

Eliot scooped Savannah up. She was slipping in and out of consciousness.

They got her on the gurney and Dani started trying to check Savannah's vitals. Eliot kept one hand on Savannah and the other held him upright against the van.

"Hardison, we're clear. Set them off," Eliot commanded.

"Is she going to be okay," Parker sounded panicked.

"We'll be at Van House in a few minutes. I can treat her there. Her heartbeat's strong enough, she can hang on."

"You're sure?"

"Savannah's a different case. She never finished treatment, I can't be sure of anything. I don't have the kind of equipment in here to know anything more than she's in a sort of stable range I can maybe fix it."

"Maybe?!"

"What the hell do you want from me? A normal person would be dead before we got her in the van!"

The van pulled to a halt in front of Van House. Dani, Eliot, and a couple Van House girls pulled the gurney out of the van and rushed Savannah to the medical lab. Dani pulled on latex gloves. "Alright, Van, I need you to talk to me."

"It hurts. Nothing's hurt like this before."

"I know. It's about to get worse. I-I have to look at the wound." As soon as Dani touched her, Savannah started thrashing. "Hold still!"

"I can't...control."

"Damn." Dani pulled a strap across Savannah's thighs to keep her steady and directed Eliot. "I need you to hold her arms and chest. The top strap will block the wound." He did what she asked. She cursed profusely as she examined the wound.

"I can't breathe! Dani, I can't breathe!"

"I know, honey. There's some damage to your lungs. And liver. And ribs. And a lot of other things."

A Van House girl came in in scrubs. As her examination continued, Dani directed the girl to hook Savannah up to an IV. The needle went in and Savannah relaxed. She was conscious but not entirely present.

"Okay," Dani said to Eliot, "you need to get out of here."

"What?! I'm not leaving her!"

"You're going to get in my way! You're welcome to stay at Van House but I need you out of my lab!"

"No!"

"Get out!" She shoved him and it felt like a five hundred pound henchman tossed him from the room.

Dani kept her word and Eliot was allowed to stay that night. Van House girls kept him updated through the evening but it all boiled down to, "She's stable, but there's a lot of damage. She's basically being kept in stasis until we can figure out how to fix it." Parker and Hardison were as disappointed as he was to hear it when they called.


	13. Chapter 13 Healing

Ch. 13 Healing

The next morning, he went down to the lab. Dani met him at the door. It was clear neither of them had really slept. "Please tell me you have something."

"I do have an idea. But it's not going to be fun."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to talk to her about it."

"Let me go with you."

"No, you're going to influence her."

"She's part of my team! I need to be there for her!"

"It's her decision and I will throw you through the ceiling if you don't back off."

"Fine, but I'm waiting right here."

"Fine." She whirled around and swept fuming through the door.

He leaned against the door frame. He could hear talking, but couldn't make much out. The conversation sounded like it should, tones of caution. But towards the end, Savannah said something that got Dani irate.

"I SAID I WANT ELIOT!"

Well, that he heard.

Dani said something that sounded like an exasperated "Fine." She pushed through the door and told him, "She wants to see you."

"I heard," he quipped, slipping past her and into the lab.

"Don't get smug with me," Dani snapped, and the door closed, leaving Savannah and Eliot alone, to talk, for the first time in weeks.

Eliot tried to act casual even though seeing Savannah, pale and weak in a medical lab killed him. From the moment he saw her, even just her picture, he wanted to protect her, and right now it looked like he failed. For weeks it'd had been about wanting Savannah to tell him how she felt. Now he just wanted her alive. Whether she was with Dani, or anyone, he just wanted her to be okay.

"How're you doin'?"

"That's a stupid question," she croaked. That was a good sign. Her voice may be weak, but her spirit had gone nowhere.

He laughed. "It is. So, you wanted to see me?"

"Dani said they can pull me out of stasis if I go through one of the lab treatments."

Eliot started to feel disconnected. "You mean the treatments at the Academy, the ones Dani modified?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"What...what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. I wanted to talk to somebody about it that wasn't Dani. And I knew you were probably here."

"I don't see how you have a choice. It's go through the treatment or..."

"Die. Eventually." He flinched. "It's not your fault, Eliot." He started to argue, but she stopped him. "No. It was a freak accident that could've happened to anyone." He just shrugged and stared at his feet. He looked up so see her glassy-eyed, near tears. "I'm scared, Eliot. It's stupid. I should want to do anything to stay alive, but getting into one of those chairs again is a nightmare. And then I think about the fact that I never finished the treatments, and if I had maybe I could be going home with you now instead of having to go through...I could still finish. I could be better."

He knelt down next to the bed and took her hand. "It's not stupid. You're fine the way you are. But it's up to you, if you think you'll be better. Whatever you pick, I'm going to be here. Whatever you pick."

Savannah sobbed hard an openly. She grimaced as breathing still hurt. "I've put you through hell, and you're still here."

Eliot pressed his forehead against hers. "I thought you'd have figure it out by now. That's the thing about this team. You put up with with a hell of a lot for each other. You know, Hardison and I didn't always get along. And since Sophie likes to talk so much, you should ask her about her and Nate."

She laughed and he finally felt like he could breathe. "I will, when we get home. And then...we can talk about that other stuff we've been meaning to talk about."

He kissed her hand. "Whatever you want. I'm gonna go get Dani. The longer we sit here, the longer it'll take to get home."

"Not yet. Just five more minutes. Those treatments suck, and as much as I'd like to get it over with, I also want to delay it, just a little bit."

"Okay, whatever you want."

"The bright side is, I'll be as good as new in a day or two. Even the broken ribs."

"That's good."


	14. Chapter 14: Deafening

Ch. 14 Deafening

Several minutes later, Eliot was following Savannah's gurney up to the treatment lab as she'd refused to let him leave. He helped put her in the chair, and she immediately started shaking as soon as she touched it. As the straps, pads, and needles were being attached, he saw her chest rising and falling more rapidly. Her breaths were wheezy as she was still suffering lung damage.

He knelt in front of her, taking her face in his hands. "Hey, look at me. Savannah, look at me. It's okay. You're going to be okay. This is going to save your life. This isn't here to hurt you. Dani's here. I'm here. Breathe normally, okay? You're hurting yourself right now. There we go. Hey, when you're done, we can go to the springs. You remember?"

Savannah nodded, struggling to breath normally. Dani put her hand on Eliot's shoulder. "Alright, we gotta get started. You need to go."

Eliot scowled. "No, I'm staying."

"It's not that I don't want you here. You're a big help. But you don't want to see this."

"I can't leave her in here."

Savannah shook her head. "Dani's right, Eliot. This isn't going to be pretty."

"I don't care. I've seen plenty of ugly things."

"I don't want you to see this." Savannah was almost begging.

"Eliot, you need to leave before I have you escorted out."

"Excuse me?"

"Please, go, Eliot. The longer you two argue, the longer I have to sit in this thing, and I don't-"

"Fine." Eliot marched out to the hum of the machines attached to the chair starting. As the door closed behind him, he caught Savannah's dread-filled whimper.

Dani poked her head out and directed some milling Van House girls. "Get him upstairs. She's going to be loud."

"What?!"

"Don't make this harder on yourself."

Two girls that he most certainly outweighed, took hold of his arms with oddly gentle grips and began guiding him down the corridor to the stairs that lead to the main part of the house. Savannah's tortured cries began piercing his ears. When he tried to turn, the girls' holds turn to vice grips that would make a cobra jealous. As much as he wanted to get to Savannah, he didn't want to hurt the girls, or admit to himself that Dani may be right.

Over an hour later, Eliot nearly bit Dani's head off when she finally came upstairs. "What's going on?"

In a restrained tone, she explained, "The treatments take about thirty minutes, and she's in surgery now. It looks like the treatment did what it was supposed to do."

"Then why is she in surgery?!"

"Will you calm the hell down? The treatment was meant to bring her to a point that surgery was viable. It sped up the healing; it did not seal the hole in her side."

"And then what happens?"

"She'll be kept under observation for forty-eight hours. If she remains stable, she can go."

The next day, Eliot found himself in an ice cream parlor with Parker. Dani and Savannah had insisted that he go out and do something that wasn't pacing around Van House for two days. He shook his head as she scarfed down what he nicknamed "Chocolate Diabetes"; it was everything chocolate you could put on a sundae. She ordered it every time she came to this parlor. She and Nate usually went together once a month, and then there'd be an irate call from Hardison because she'd come back than night more wired than a crack addict. But Eliot wasn't going to stop her from ordering it. Not like he could. He stared down at his half-finished banana split. His mind slipped to Savannah. She would've ordered something like cookies and cream or something with nuts.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?"

Parker's concerned questioned pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up at her licking her spoon. "Huh? No. Why would I be mad at you?"

"The whole Savannah thing."

"What whole-Oh. That. No, I'm not mad at you. I don't think I was ever really upset with you. Maybe I was. More with Savannah though. Then I felt guilty."

"Why?"

"Because Savannah and I aren't together. I had no right to be upset with her."

"You were, what's the word, jealous. It's okay to be jealous. Like when Hardison was dealing with that girl when we did the job with the killer medicine. Sophie told me. You can feel things. You just gotta be honest with yourself about them."

"I have to say, you telling me about how I'm feeling is not a conversation I ever pictured having."

"So are you guys going to be a thing now?"

"I don't know. I want to. It feels like she wants to. But then this whole thing with Dani. And after the explosion. Just seems like there's a lot to deal with. Maybe it's not the right time. Or maybe I'm just wrong and we're not supposed to be a thing."

"I don't think you're wrong." He looked up at her, but she was focused on scraping the chocolate out of her dish.


End file.
